Shading Every Other Excel Row

Q: I use Excel 2000 all of the time. I absolutely love the program, but there is one thing that I’m curious about. When I enter a lot of content into a spreadsheet, it can start to look monotonous. Is there any way that I can shade every other row? This would make things look a lot better.
A: Formatting doesn’t just apply to your regular text documents – it also applies to spreadsheets. Excel has a lot more under the hood than you may notice at first glance, and learning about these features can really help you to spice up your spreadsheets.

For example, there is a feature built into Excel called Conditional Formatting. As the name implies, it allows you to set the format of a cell (or cells) by entering in certain conditions. You can really make this feature work for you if you know what you’re doing.

To shade every other row, follow the steps outlined on this page. It’s easy to do, and one of the nice things about it is that you can choose the shade color. If you don’t like the standard light gray color that everyone uses, throw in some bright pink to make your co-workers’ brains hemorrhage.

Have a question or subject that you would like to see covered? Drop Brandon a line and maybe he can include it in a future edition of the Gnewbie Gnook! Also, don’t forget our forums (or, if you’re a Latin freak, “fora”) where Gnomies from all around the world congregate to help, be helped, and discuss issues that may or may not have anything to do with technology!

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